AC 8694 - Revelation: Enlightenment When the Word Is Read

AC 8694 [2-3]

By "revelation" is meant
enlightenment when the Word is read,
and perception then;
for those who are in good and long for truth
are taught in this way from the Word;
but those who are not in good
cannot be taught from the Word,
but can only be confirmed in such things
as they have been instructed in from infancy,
whether true or false.
The reason why those who are in good have revelation,
and those who are in evil have no revelation,
is that in the internal sense
each and all things in the Word
treat of the Lord and of His kingdom,
and the angels who are with a person
perceive the Word according to the internal sense.
This is communicated to the person who is in good,
and reads the Word,
and from affection longs for truth,
and consequently has enlightenment and perception.
For with those who are in good
and from this in the affection of truth,
the intellectual part of the mind is open into heaven,
and their soul, that is, their internal person,
is in fellowship with angels;
but it is otherwise with those who are not in good,
thus who do not from the affection of good long for truth;
to these heaven is closed.

But what is the nature of the revelation with those
who are in good and from this in the affection of truth,
cannot be described.
It is not manifest,
neither is it altogether hidden;
but it is a certain consent and favoring from within
that a thing is true,
and a non-favoring if it is not true.
When there is a favoring,
the mind is at rest and is serene,
and in this state
there is the acknowledgment which is of faith.
The cause of its being so
is from the influx of heaven from the Lord;
for through heaven from the Lord there is light,
that surrounds and enlightens the intellect,
which is the eye of the internal sight.
The things which are then seen in that light are truths,
for this very light is the Divine truth
which proceeds from the Lord.
That this Divine truth is light in heaven,
has been frequently shown.